[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 10, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E64]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         MOURNING THE PASSING OF PRESIDENT GERALD RUDOLPH FORD

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. TOM COLE

                              of oklahoma

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 9, 2007

  Mr. COLE of Oklahoma. Madam Speaker, I rise today to praise a truly 
good man. With the passing of President Gerald Ford, the House of 
Representatives lost its most distinguished alumni, and America lost a 
great patriot who always placed his country's good ahead of his own 
political interest. Gerald Ford was a man of absolute integrity and 
profound personal decency.
  Much has been said about President Ford's distinguished career in the 
House and as President. Many will rightly recall his absolute integrity 
and his profound personal decency. To build upon those remarks, I would 
like to share some of my personal interactions with Gerald Ford. I had 
the honor of meeting and working with former President Ford on many 
occasions after he left office. I found him to be the same man in 
private that he was in public--decent, honorable, and self-deprecating 
in his humor and observations. He was shrewd without being devious and 
wise without being complicated.
  Madam Speaker, President Ford had genuine connections to and 
affection for Oklahoma and Oklahomans. He told me on several occasions 
that he became Vice President and ultimately President because of the 
late Speaker Carl Albert of Oklahoma, who supported his nomination for 
the Vice Presidency. He always remembered that Oklahoma was one of only 
two Southern States that he carried in 1976. Indeed, once while making 
this point to me, he recalled the exact margin of victory--13,266 out 
of over 1 million cast.
  Madam Speaker, during a memorable 1976 campaign stop in Oklahoma, 
President Ford said, ``It's great to be in Oklahoma, the home of Will 
Rogers, who never met a man he didn't like, and the Oklahoma Sooners, 
who never played a team they couldn't beat.'' I later told him that 
single line won Oklahoma for him. ``Well,'' he responded, ``talking 
college football is pretty good politics in a lot of places. You might 
try it if you're ever campaigning in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, or 
just about anywhere in the South.'' It is still one of the best pieces 
of advice I ever got from a practicing politician.
  President Ford paired his intelligence with empathy and his candor 
with modesty. He was as politically astute as he was personally decent, 
something that all too many people forget. He was absolutely loyal to 
his party while still approaching politics in a pragmatic and 
bipartisan manner that made genuine political compromise possible. The 
House was all the better because of his character, and so too was our 
country. When speaking to the Congress, the President said with his 
usual humility that he was a Ford, not a Lincoln. Today, only the best 
among us might be able to call themselves Fords.
  We will all miss him very much, Madam Speaker, and I strongly urge 
support of H. Res. 15.

                          ____________________